Page 31
31
Luca
I stare at myself in the mirror, fingers pressing lightly against my stomach, still trying to wrap my head around how fast everything is changing. I’m only a few weeks along, but my body already feels different, like it’s moving ahead of me before I can catch up. The small swell beneath my palm wasn’t there before, or maybe I just didn’t notice it, but now it’s impossible to ignore. It’s real. This is real.
The reflection staring back at me feels unfamiliar in some ways, but it’s me. It’s my body, my life. My baby.
I exhale, shaking off the thought before heading down the hall to my Omega. I know exactly where to find Blake. For once, he’s actually in the office, which means he’s working himself into a frenzy over something that probably isn’t that serious.
Sure enough, the second I step inside, I find him pacing back and forth, his free hand gesturing wildly as he snaps at someone over the phone.
“I told you, the sequence is off. It’s off and if you don’t fix it before launch, the entire system is going to be a fucking disaster.” Blake stops, listens for a second, then groans in frustration, throwing his head back. “I don’t give a shit what the numbers say, fix the goddamn issue!”
I bite back a laugh, crossing my arms as I watch him stomp across the room, his face twisted in concentration, in irritation, in that overworked, overly serious expression he always gets when something doesn’t go exactly how he planned. His glasses are slightly askew, his nose scrunched up in a way I’ve always thought was adorable.
Blake turns abruptly, catches me grinning, and scowls. I lose it, an unfiltered laugh falling from my lips. Blake narrows his eyes but doesn’t have time to retaliate because I’m already crawling into Grayson’s lap, curling into his chest like I belong there.
My Omega sputters, his mouth opening and closing before he groans, shaking his phone in the air like it personally offended him. “I swear to god, you two are insufferable.”
Grayson, unfazed, rests his chin on my shoulder, arms locking around my waist as he smirks up at Blake. “Breathe, babe,” he says smoothly, his tone dripping with amusement. “I said you were allowed to work, but not if you’re going to get all worked up about it.”
Blake’s nostrils flare. “This is my company. I have to do something.”
“And they can’t wait until after you’ve had lunch and maybe even a nap with your Omega?” Grayson teases, nuzzling into my neck. “He feels neglected, don’t you, Luca?”
I snort, pressing a kiss against Grayson’s jaw. “Devastated, honestly.”
Blake glares, flipping us off before snapping back into his phone. “I have to go. My pack is being ridiculous.” Without waiting for a response, he hangs up and drops the phone onto his desk.
I tilt my head up at Grayson, my amusement fading slightly. “Have the results still not come in yet?”
Grayson sighs, his fingers drifting to my stomach, his palm spreading warm over the curve. “The lab was backed up,” he murmurs. “It should be any day now.” Grayson rubs slow, steady circles over my belly and I lean further back into his hold. Then he says something that makes my heart stop. “But I have my suspicions.”
My breath catches, my eyes widening as I sit up straighter, staring at him. “You can smell the difference in my scent, can’t you?” I grab his wrist, my pulse hammering in my ears. “Who’s the daddy?”
Grayson watches me carefully, his expression unreadable, like he’s measuring his words before he lets them loose. “I’m not going to give you hope when I can’t promise you the outcome.”
I want to push, want him to tell me everything is fine, that the answer I want is the one I’m going to get. But he won’t. Because he’s Grayson and he won’t lie to me. So I swallow hard, leaning back against him, breathing him in. “I just want to know,” I whisper.
Grayson tightens his grip around me, his hand never leaving my stomach. “We’ll know soon,” he promises. “And no matter what, Luca, we’ve got you. How are you doing with everything else?”
I sigh, letting my eyes flutter shut for a second before I answer. “I love where I am. I love the house. I love our pack.” I press a hand over his, holding him there against my skin. “I couldn’t have asked for a better family.”
Grayson hums, pleased. “Good.”
“But,” I continue, cracking an eye open, “I wish I didn’t have to go through all the other bullshit to get here. I’m not terribly angry about it. Just…” I shake my head, searching for the right word. Exhausted. Worn down. Tired of feeling like there’s always another fight waiting around the corner. I sit up a little in his lap, stretching, then let my head rest against his shoulder. “We’ve done all this research,” I say, running my fingers absentmindedly along his forearm. “But maybe the missing key is calling my parents.”
Grayson immediately stiffens beneath me. His expression darkens, his jaw locking as he stares at me like I’ve lost my damn mind. “No. I don’t want you talking to them.”
I exhale slowly, bracing myself for the argument that I don’t want to have. “I don’t want to either,” I admit. “But they might know something that could explain everything else.”
Grayson doesn’t respond right away. He’s working through it, deciding if the risk is worth whatever answers we might get. I let him sit with it, let him process, knowing that if I push too hard, he’ll just dig his heels in deeper. “You have a point,” he mutters. “And I hate it.”
I smirk. “You hate when I’m right.”
He rolls his eyes. “You’re right too often but you’re not leaving my lap the entire time.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” My gaze drifts over to Blake who’s focused on something on his screen, brows furrowed, nostrils flared. I know in some part he’s listening to us but most of his attention is on work and I love that for him. I do. I just wish he would breathe a little.
A heavy sigh falls from my lips as Grayson presses his phone into my hand, his grip lingering just a second too long, like he’s reluctant to let go, like if he holds on long enough, I’ll change my mind. But I don’t.
My fingers hover over the screen for a moment before I take a slow breath and dial, my stomach twisting into knots so tight I feel sick. It shouldn’t be this hard. It’s just a phone call. Just a voice on the other end of the line. They haven’t really been my parents for a really long time and now I have mates to anchor me when I didn’t before.
The phone rings once, twice, and then—
“Hello?”
The breath punches out of me, a sharp little sound I don’t even mean to make, but it’s too late to swallow it down. I hate her. I hate everything she’s done. And yet, some small, broken part of me still aches for the mother I never had. That piece of me that still wants to believe she loved me, that she did what she did out of desperation, not cruelty.
There’s a pause before her voice sharpens, laced with irritation. “Luca? Jesus Christ,” she hisses. “We’ve been trying to get in contact with you for ages and you’ve been gallivanting off with another pack rather than being with Hudson?”
The sharpness shatters whatever weak nostalgia had curled around me. And then they start yelling. It’s more than just her. I don’t know if my father is in the room or if she’s got someone else with her, but it’s a flurry of voices, overlapping accusations and anger, demanding to know where I am, telling me I need to come home, that I don’t understand what I’ve done. That they’re going to lose everything because of me.
Grayson squeezes my leg, pulling me out of my head but it’s still just a bit too much. My fingers tighten around the phone, my pulse hammering so loud I can barely hear them. “You only gave me to Hudson for money,” I whisper. “I know that. I made my peace with that. But I want to know if you knew.”
The shouting stops.
Grayson pulls me in tighter, wrapping himself around me, holding me together as I press my fingers against my temple, my breath uneven. “Did you know?” I ask again, this time my voice cracking. “Did you know about the abuse? About the times when the fridge was empty? The times when he ignored my ‘no’?”
More silence.
I let out a broken sound, pressing the heel of my hand against my eyes, willing myself not to let them hear me like this, not to let them have that power over me. But the weight of it is suffocating, the confirmation I don’t need but get anyway. I swallow hard, forcing out the next question, the one that’s been sitting heavy in the back of my mind ever since we started putting the pieces together. “Was I meant to be Hudson’s?” I whisper. “Or someone else’s? Was the plan for me to end up as an Ellis, or was there someone else in line?”
“We gave you to Hudson. That was it.” There’s a beat of silence before my mother starts speaking faster. “Look, I need to go. We’re having… we have an appointment.”
Something about the way she says it, the stumble in her voice, the way it doesn’t quite fit the conversation—it sets something off inside me. My stomach turns, bile creeping up my throat as my fingers loosen around the phone. Slowly, I pull it away from my ear, staring at it like it might suddenly explain what the fuck I just heard.
Before I can process it, Grayson slips the phone from my fingers and hangs up.
My mind is racing, pulling apart everything I just heard, twisting it into shapes that make me feel sick. The moment I stand up, Blake is already there, his arms wrapping tight around me, pulling me in like he can feel the way I’m barely holding myself together. And maybe he can. I grip the back of his shirt, clinging to him, pressing my face into his shoulder as the words spill out before I can stop them.
“I heard him,” I whisper, voice shaking, my body trembling so hard I feel like my knees might buckle. “Hudson is at my house. He’s with my parents.”
The moment the words are out, my legs give out, and Blake goes down with me, holding me as I crumble. Grayson moves to the floor beside us, wrapping himself around my back, their warmth pressing in on all sides, anchoring me.
“I don’t know why it matters so much,” I choke out, my breath coming in quick, uneven gasps. “Why is he still trying to get to me?”
The temperature in the room shifts as Maceo and Luther’s scents fill the room, their added presence allowing me to relax. Luther’s eyes flick over me, taking in the way I’m curled into Blake, Grayson’s arms around me. His brows pull together as he drops down onto the floor in front of me.
“What’s wrong?” He asks.
I lift my head from between Blake and Grayson, swallowing down the panic trying to crawl up. “Hudson was at my house,” I whisper, my voice barely audible.
He reaches forward, running a hand through my hair, his expression softening. “Sweetheart,” he says carefully. “I think Hudson was a lot more twisted up in this than we realized. I won’t give you all the nitty-gritty details, but I think he was dealing battered Omegas.”
I stare at him, blinking, my mind trying to process what the fuck he just said. Dealing battered Omegas. Like a fucking business transaction. “What the fuck?” I breathe, my entire body going rigid. “My mom—she said I wasn’t… that Hudson was it for me. That I was supposed to be his.” My voice cracks and I shake my head, gripping Blake tighter. “She said if I don’t go back, they don’t get paid. But I don’t know why he was at my house.”
“We don’t have to talk about this right now, sweetheart, he purrs. “Let’s focus on something else.”
I shake my head, my brain moving too fast, pulling pieces together, trying to make sense of something that refuses to fit. “This doesn’t make any sense.” I pull back slightly, looking between all of them, feeling the weight of their concern pressing down on me. And then it hits me. “There was…” My breath catches. “We went to these fundraising events once or twice.” I swallow hard, flashes of memories surfacing, memories I didn’t think mattered until now. “It felt like I was a prop or something.” I meet Luther’s eyes, and I already know the answer before I ask. “It was that, wasn’t it?”
No one says anything right away. And that silence? It tells me everything.
The nest is warm, perfectly built, wrapping around me in a way that should be comforting, but I’m restless. Blake is in my nest, still working , his fingers flying over the keyboard as he paces, his phone wedged between his shoulder and his ear. I can hear the irritation in his voice, the clipped tone, the way he’s barely holding back from completely tearing into someone again . I recognize the sound of his stress, and it’s starting to annoy the hell out of me.
We ate, we relaxed, and the others are in the kitchen, whispering about something I don’t have the energy to care about right now. I just want Blake. I try to distract him, crawling into his lap, nipping at his jaw, anything to pull his attention away from whatever crisis he’s dealing with. But all I get in return is a half-hearted, “In a minute,” as he waves me off.
I frown, settling back onto my elbows as I watch him. “I’m going to tell them you’re working too hard,” I warn, trying to keep my tone light, teasing, but there’s an edge to it.
“They said three hours,” he mutters, still focused on his screen.
I roll my eyes. “And you’ve been at it for four.”
Blake sighs, rubbing at his temple. “I’m almost finished.”
I snort. “Bullshit.”
Pushing off one of the pillows, I straighten up and call out toward the kitchen. “Maceo, I need you right now.” Within seconds, Maceo steps into the room, brow raised, already amused because he knows exactly what I’m doing. I point directly at Blake. “Fix this.”
Blake groans, dropping his head back against the couch, exasperated. “Luca—”
But Maceo doesn’t even give him a chance. In two strides, he reaches down, plucks the laptop right out of Blake’s hands, and snaps it shut. Blake bolts upright instantly, his face twisting into mock outrage. “Hey—”
Maceo smirks as he leans down to brush his fingers along the shell of Blake’s ear, right where his bite mark is. Blake melts instantly. His eyes flutter shut, his body going loose, his mouth parting slightly like he’s about to protest but can’t quite form the words. He tilts his head slightly, unconsciously pressing into the touch.
“That’s not fucking fair,” he mutters weakly, voice thick, almost breathless. “I was almost done.” His pair scent blooms into the air, growing thicker by the second.
Our Beta grins, pleased, smug. “You’re completely done now,” he murmurs. “Work can wait. I’m done with hospitals for a while and I’d really like my Omegas in good health.”
Blake groans again, this time in defeat, collapsing back against the couch like the fight has been drained out of him. From the other side of the room, Grayson is outright laughing now. “This is going to be fun. Watching you get put in your place by both Maceo and Luther.”
Maceo turns his attention toward Grayson, his grin widening into something sharp, full of promise. “Yeah, but he’s not the only one I’m interested in playing with.”
Grayson freezes. His entire face flushes, color blooming across his cheeks, creeping down his neck. Laughter bubbles up in my chest, pure joy in the rare sight of Grayson completely thrown off his game. But before I can even revel in the moment, Luther swoops in. One second, I’m standing there, watching the scene unfold, and the next, I’m hoisted off my feet, tossed over Luther’s shoulder like I weigh nothing.
I squeak, my laughter turning into a startled yelp as I wriggle in his grip. “Luther—”
“You want to watch with me?” he asks, his voice dripping with amusement.
I grin, arms looping around his shoulders as I press my forehead against his back. “Yeah.”
He sets me back down onto my feet, pulling me to the floor and then into his lap. And then his fingers start curling into the waistband of my shorts, slowly dragging them down. “Luther,” I start, voice wavering between warning and anticipation.
He smirks, his tone dark and entirely too satisfied. “I’m a good Alpha,” he murmurs. “I can multitask.”
Maceo’s grin widens as he moves to stand behind Grayson, pressing his lips just beside the Alpha’s ear. “It seems that they want a show since they missed the last one.” The groan of pure pleasure that slips from Grayson’s lips as he melts in Maceo’s hand is everything.